Do Imported Organic Foods Live Up to their Labels?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Chasing Life

Episode: Do Imported Organic Foods Live Up to Their Labels?

Host: Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN Podcasts)
Date: November 4, 2025

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Overview

In this episode of Chasing Life, Dr. Sanjay Gupta dives into the complexities surrounding organic food labels, especially those on imported products. Responding to listener questions, Dr. Gupta explains how organic standards are enforced in the U.S. and abroad, the challenges with international certification, and the practical realities consumers face. Special guest Dr. Peter Laufer, professor and investigative journalist, contributes nuanced insights on the trustworthiness of organic labels. A second segment addresses the science behind “grounding sheets,” marketed as health products.

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Main Discussion: Are Imported Organic Foods Really Organic?

How Organic Certification Works in the U.S.

• Host Explanation [01:05]:
  • The USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) develops and enforces standards for organic crops, livestock, and agricultural products.
  • Dr. Sanjay Gupta:

    “Organic food is labeled that way because of the way that it is farmed, handled, and processed.” [01:33]

  • Standards for organic crops: Avoidance of synthetic substances for pest, weed, and soil management.
  • Standards for animal products: Must consume organic diets, have access to outdoor spaces, and may only receive approved supplements.
  • For processed foods: At least 95% of ingredients must be certified organic.

Monitoring of Imported Organics

• International Certification:
  • Foreign farms and producers must adopt USDA organic practices and be certified by USDA-accredited agents.
  • U.S. has equivalency agreements with some countries (Canada, EU, Japan) if their standards match up with U.S. requirements.
  • New since 2024: Every imported organic shipment must carry a special “import certificate”—a type of passport confirming the product’s organic status and traceability. [03:36]
• Oversight and Enforcement:
  • Periodic USDA audits and inspections. Heavy fines for fraud.
  • Dr. Sanjay Gupta:

    “The USDA doesn’t really just take people’s word for it. It does conduct audits and inspections from time to time. And anyone that falsely represents products as organic gets an expensive fine.” [04:33]

Imperfections and Limitations in the System

• Fraud can happen, domestically and internationally.
• Impossible to inspect every single product.
• Dr. Peter Laufer (Guest Expert):

  “Every single piece of broccoli can't be looked at.” [04:53]

• Laufer emphasizes the importance of skepticism, especially with complex supply chains.
• Example: A honey label with multiple origins (USA, Ukraine, India) makes it harder to verify authenticity.

  “That's another thing that's intriguing. If it's hard to find this information on the label, that doesn't necessarily mean that the retailer or the producer is trying to be devious. But that's a little weird. Wouldn't you be proud to say where your stuff's from?” [06:13]

Practical Consumer Guidance

• Trust but verify: True certainty is elusive unless you grow it yourself.
• Use “logic” and a “dose of skepticism combined with some pragmatism.”
• Dr. Sanjay Gupta:

  “It’s not a perfect system… There’s a lot of food there to be inspected.” [05:04]

• Dr. Peter Laufer:

  “Can you trust it?... If it's coming from multiple places far away, even if it’s labeled organic, that means it had to go through three inspection processes and perhaps something slipped in one of them or maybe something devious occurred… But it's a whole lot different than if your neighbor across the back fence has bees in her backyard and she says, do you want a jar of honey?” [05:17]

• Transparency and simplicity in supply chains increase trust.

Memorable Moment

• Dr. Laufer inspects his own jar of honey with a magnifying glass, remarking on the challenge of tracing its origins:

  “Let me put on the magnifying glass here. And yes, selected honey from the USA. Okay. We like the USA, right? Ukraine. Okay. And India. Are you ready to go to Ukraine and India and check out where the producer is?” [06:13]

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Key Segment Timestamps

• [00:22] Caller Meg asks: “How do we know imported food is really organic?”
• [01:05] Dr. Gupta explains U.S. organic certification
• [03:36] The USDA's system for imported organic products, equivalency, and 2024 import certificates
• [04:33] Dr. Gupta on audits, inspections, and fines for fraud
• [04:53] Dr. Laufer: Why inspecting every product is impossible
• [05:17] Dr. Laufer’s advice for consumer skepticism and trust
• [06:13] Dr. Laufer’s honey label magnifying glass anecdote
• [07:22] Dr. Gupta: No perfect system, but safeguards do exist

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Grounding Sheets: Health Claims and Science

What Are Grounding Sheets?

• Sheets woven with conductive material (carbon/silver), connected to the ground or power outlets to “conduct Earth’s energy.”
• Marketed claims: Help with insomnia, joint pain, inflammation, stress, and chronic illness.

What Does Science Say?

• Many studies are funded by manufacturers or have conflicts of interest.
• Independent, rigorous studies are limited.
• 2023 review: Most studies lack placebo control/blinding; results are inconclusive and confounded by variables like soil composition.
• Dr. Sanjay Gupta:

  “If you look this up, you’ll find that there are studies... but a lot of the studies... have a stake in selling these grounding products.”

• Safety generally assumed if standard care is followed (e.g., don’t use in thunderstorms).

Practical Advice

• No harmful effects, but benefits are unproven.
• Dr. Gupta recommends natural “grounding” by spending time barefoot outdoors, which may have personal or psychological benefits.

Memorable Quote

• Dr. Sanjay Gupta:

  “If you are curious, Cleo, I can't see anything wrong with practicing a bit of grounding. Maybe that’s what you’re going for. Getting outside, taking off your shoes and socks and sort of grounding yourself or earthing yourself like our ancestors did…” [12:22]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Organic food is labeled that way because of the way that it is farmed, handled and processed.” – Dr. Sanjay Gupta [01:33]
• “Every single piece of broccoli can't be looked at.” – Dr. Peter Laufer [04:53]
• “If it's hard to find this information on the label, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the retailer or the producer is trying to be devious. But that's a little weird.” – Dr. Peter Laufer [06:13]
• “There is absolutely no way to know for certain whether something is organic unless you've grown it yourself.” – (Paraphrased) Dr. Peter Laufer as referenced by Dr. Gupta [07:13]
• “No perfect system, but there are safeguards in place to help ensure that organic food is in fact organic.” – Dr. Sanjay Gupta [07:22]

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Conclusion

Takeaway:

• The USDA organic program works hard to maintain high standards, but imported certification carries inherent challenges. Consumers should use critical thinking, check for transparent labeling, and remember there are always some risks of fraud, at home and abroad. Personal connection (local producers) increases certainty, but most people can only “do the best we can with the information we are given.”
• On trendy wellness products like grounding sheets: science is lacking, claims are unproven, but if used safely, simple grounding practices outdoors are harmless and may be enjoyable.

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Transcript

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Welcome to paging Dr. Gupta. I am back again to answer your health questions and more. Today, Jennifer is going to be joining us with some new questions from all of you. Jennifer, who do we have first?

[Jennifer]

Okay, so our first question is from Meg. She's calling in from New Jersey, and she has a great question about organic food.

[Caller (Meg or Cleo)]

How do we determine or ascertain that the food that comes from other countries is, in fact, organic? I assume in the United States there are inspectors and those kind of things, but I'm curious about things that come from other countries.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Thank you. All right. I love this question, Meg. Thank you very much. Truth is, look, more than ever, people are interested in where their food comes from. They're interested in exactly how it's grown and then how it gets to their table. And many of us are interested in choosing organic foods. But the question becomes, then how do you know if it's really organic, especially if it comes from abroad? I'm going to tell you what you need to know right after the break. All right. Welcome back to paging Dr. Gupta. How do you know if something that is labeled as organic is really organic? Well, in the United States, we have inspectors and a certification process to make sure food labeled organic meets strict standards. Now, that's enforced by the USDA, the U.S. department of Agriculture. They have a national organic program which develops and enforces the standards for organic crops, livestock and agricultural products. Let me take a step back for a second and explain these standards. We've talked about them before, but basically organic food is considered organic because of the way it is farmed and handled and processed. I'm going to repeat that. Organic food is labeled that way because of the way that it is farmed, handled and processed. So for fruits and vegetables, for example, to be certified organic by the usda, farmers and growers need to avoid the use of prohibited substances. Basically, it's anything synthetic to manage pests, weeds, disease and soil. The requirements for animal products, a little different. Livestock have to consume an organic diet, plus vitamin and mineral supplements as needed. Both poultry and livestock must have access to outdoor spaces throughout the year. And for packaged foods, it's all about the ingredients. So for a food item with multiple ingredients to be considered organic by the USDA, at least 95% of those ingredients have to be certified organic. So what about organic food that is grown in other countries? Well, it turns out the USDA also has a pretty robust system in place to make sure imported organic food is held to the same standards as food grown in the United States and that it is indeed what they say it is. And here's how that works. First of all, farms and food producers in other countries must adopt USDA organic practices and be certified by by USDA accredited agents. These agents are trained to inspect and verify that the operation follows the same organic rules we use in the United States, even if that farm is thousands of miles away. Second of all, the US does have formal arrangements with some countries, like Canada, the European Union, Japan, among others. And these agreements basically say, hey, look, your organic standards, they are just as strict as ours. So if a product is certified organic in those countries and it can be sold as organic here as well, and then there's something Fairly new. Since 2024, every shipment of organic food coming into the United States must include a special import certificate. That certificate is sort of like a passport for organic products. It tells custom officials exactly where the food came from, how much of it there is, and confirms that it has been certified organic along along with a paper trail to show it. Finally, the USDA doesn't really just take people's word for it. It does conduct audits and inspections from time to time. And anyone that falsely represents products as organic gets an expensive fine. Now, I want to be clear. What I've just described is not a perfect system. Fraud does happen. Sometimes it can happen, and it does happen. And sometimes products which claim to be organic are not. That goes for food from the United States as well, by the way, as well as food from abroad. You know, we talked to Dr. Peter Laufer, a journalist and professor at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. He's done a lot of digging into this, including writing a book called Organic A Journalist's Quest to Discover the Truth Behind Food Labeling. And he pointed out something to us.

[Dr. Peter Laufer]

That'S really important when you think about where we get all of our food and how much food we all have on this planet. Every single piece of broccoli can't be be looked at.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So again, it's not a perfect system. When it comes to products that come from both inside and outside the country, it can get tricky. There's a lot of food there to be inspected. Dr. Laufer had some advice.

[Dr. Peter Laufer]

Logic is important to inject into the question. If you really are trying to figure out what's what and where it came from and can you trust it? And one of the things that I look out for is when products come, such as the honey that I had for breakfast, a nice piece of sourdough bread, if it's coming from multiple places far away, even if it's labeled organic, that means it had to go through three inspection processes and perhaps something slipped in one of them or maybe something devious occurred, who knows? But it's a whole lot different than if your neighbor across the back fence has bees in her backyard and she says, do you want a jar of honey?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

And even showed us a jar of honey that raised some serious questions about its origins.

[Dr. Peter Laufer]

So this particular one, I had to get out a magnifying glass because that's another thing that's intriguing. If it's hard to find this information on the label, that doesn't necessarily mean that the retailer or the producer is trying to be devious. But that's a little weird. Wouldn't you be proud to say, where your stuff's from? So let me put on the magnifying glass here. And yes, selected honey from the usa. Okay. We like the usa, right? Ukraine. Okay. And India. Are you ready to go to Ukraine in India and check out where the producer is? Probably not before you have your honey on your sourdough bread for breakfast. So, yeah, a good dose of skepticism combined with some pragmatism and some just heartfelt belief in the goodness of the human spirit that most people are not trying to mess with you.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

That said, while it's not perfect, there are safeguards in place to help ensure that organic food is in fact, organic. One thing I should point out is that Dr. Laufer doesn't really worry that much. He does stress that there is absolutely no way to know for certain whether something is organic unless you've grown it yourself. But at the same time, that doesn't mean we should write off organic entirely. We do the best we can with the information we are given and it's always worth trying to get more information. So, Meg, again, thank you for the question. I know it's not a simple or straightforward answer, but hopefully you learned something about the ins and outs of organic food today. Alright, let's take a quick break. When we come back, there are these sheets out there that claim to help with better sleep, joint pain, even with cancer. Maybe you've heard of them. Grounding sheets. What are they? And is there any real science behind them? Stick with us.

[Audie Cornish]

Hey, friends, this is Audie Cornish, host of CNN this morning. And the assignment. And guess what? Every story you care about, angle you want unpacked is now streaming on CNN. So subscribe to [e-mail] subscription All right.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Welcome back to Paging Dr. Gupta. Jennifer, hit me with the next question.

[Jennifer]

All right, Sanjay, I think you're Going to like this one. This is a question from Cleo. She's calling from Atlanta, and she's wondering about grounding sheets.

[Caller (Meg or Cleo)]

My question is about grounding sheets. Is there any validity that they help with insomnia, joint pain, and other kinds of ailments? Because they're being sold in many places online, and before purchasing, I want to know, is there any truth to them helping with these things? So hopefully you can address this question on one of your shows. Thank you.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Okay, Cleo, I'm so glad you asked this question, in part because I really didn't know much about grounding sheets until I read your question. So thank you. You took us on a deep dive over at CNN Medical. If you're not familiar with these grounding sheets, let's start with some basics. First of all, grounding sheets are. Yeah, they're sheets. They look the same as the regular sheets you put on your bed, but they have one main difference. Grounding sheets are said to be woven with a conductive material like carbon or silver, and then they are conducted to a power outlet or directly onto the ground outside. The idea being that they will conduct the Earth's energy while you sleep. Okay, you get that it's got the carbon or silver sort of woven into the material. You're sleeping. And now that conduction is happening. But one might reasonably ask, why conduct the Earth's energy at all? And what exactly is grounding? So grounding is the idea that your body can connect with the electric charge of the earth and that being connected is the natural state of how humans should be. It's also called earthing, by the way. Grounding or earthing. The theory is that people were naturally grounded in the past just by living. They walked barefoot, they sat on the ground, they slept close to the Earth. Now, contrast that with today, where we're mostly indoors. We sleep in beds, we wear shoes. We live in buildings that keep us separated from the ground. Again, the idea is that somewhere along the way, we lost that connection with Mother Earth. And people claim that this disconnection can cause health issues, everything from arthritis to fibromyalgia, restless sleep. Now, proponents of grounding say that making an effort to reconnect with the Earth the way we once did can solve a lot of those issues. And if you don't have time to sit outside on the grass all day, these products are designed to simulate that connection. Grounding sheets, which you can sleep on in bed, in addition to things like mats and shoes and blankets and more. The claims are pretty audacious. They claim to reduce inflammation and pain, reduce stress, enhance mood, help with chronic illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes and more. Again, those are big claims. So let's break it down a little bit. What exactly does the science say about grounding? Now, if you look this up, you'll find that there are studies that have been done on the effects of grounding. But a lot of the studies out there have been done by folks who, who have a stake in selling these grounding products and they've disclosed as much. But because of those conflicts of interest, you would be wise to be cautious of the study. There's a real possibility of bias when it comes to these grounding sheet studies and that's something to keep in mind. You should look up the studies yourself. You should scroll down to the conflict of interest section. Now, in terms of other studies that are not as conflicted, they are pretty limited and inconclusive. There was a 2023 review which pointed out that a lot of the studies on grounding are not at all gold standard science. They haven't used placebo controlled trials or blinded trials. The same review pointed out there are a ton of variables that can affect or even distort the results. Soil moisture, soil composition. So when it comes to grounding sheets, there are people who swear by them, but it's really hard to say for sure if they're effective at all. What about safety? Right now, again, there's no independent data about the safety of grounding sheets. Some manufacturers suggest making sure to never use them during a thunderstorm or if there's lightning. But as a general rule, they're probably going to be about as safe as other sheets. The benefits not totally clear. If you are curious, Cleo, I can't see anything wrong with practicing a bit of grounding. Maybe. Maybe that's what you're going for. Getting outside, taking off your shoes and socks and sort of grounding yourself or earthing yourself like our ancestors did on a daily basis. It is funny how little time we spend just walking around without any shoes or socks on. It can be really, really wonderful to do that from time to time. Cleo, thank you so much for your question. That's all the time we have for today. Thanks to everyone. Keep those questions coming. If you have a question, send it our way. Don't keep it to yourself. Record a voice memo, email it to asksandjcnn.com or give us a call 470-396-0832 and leave a message. Thanks so much for listening.

[Audie Cornish]

This week on The Assignment With Me, Audie Cornish.

[Caller (Meg or Cleo)]

There will always be those creators, no matter what happens on the corporate level.

[Audie Cornish]

Bram Stoker Award winner Tananarive Due is here to help us figure out what it is about this moment, this decade, that's turned horror into the most daring, diverse and revealing genre on screen. What does the box office renaissance of fear say about how we feel about the world we're living in right now?

[Caller (Meg or Cleo)]

Indie horror will shine and corporate horror will follow the money.

[Audie Cornish]

Listen to the Assignment With Me, Audie Cornish. Streaming now on your favorite podcast, apparently.